The Dementor Effect
by The HP and Twilight lover
Summary: When Sirius & Remus work as potion partners, of course teir brewing turns out perfectly. But when Sirius decides that he want to prank Snape, that's when things get really ugly! Story written for the Brewing Trouble challenge! RLSB don't like don't re


Omg, it's been a week since I last wrote and published a Remus/Sirius fic! I've been suffering from Wolfstar abstinence! And what do one do at an occasion of that kind? Why, sign up for fanfic-challenges, of course! This whole thing was inspired by a challenge called "brewing trouble" - you should all go check it out, it's a really creative challenge and I bet ThySilverDoe would be happy to have more people signing up for it!

Anyway, this is the result.

Disclaimer: No, I haven't aged rapidly, I haven't got kids and my name is not Rowling, so there you go, I don't own Sirius & Co... yet... :D

Also, I'd like to thank Shelby for so kindly pointing out that I'd been accidentally writing the word gryffindor with an 'e' on the end in my earlier works! Thanks to that, I finally discovered that the stupid laptop of mine autocorrected every 'gryffindor' I wrote to 'gryffindore', for some reason. In my opinion, it deserves to be thrown away, but as for that later...

Yeah, thanks anyway!

* * *

**The Dementor Effect**

"This should be the correct result", Remus Lupin stated to his partner in potions class, critically looking down at the potion whose steam spiralled up from the cauldron. "Though I can't be a hundred percent sure of how powerful it is."

"What do you mean, 'should be'?" Sirius Black returned with a frown. "Since when are you not completely positive of the result? I promise you I haven't touched the potion, you know", he added.

Remus' lips twisted, but he shook his head. "I expect you not to have sabotaged anything, Sirius", he said in an unmistakably warning voice, though with an amused glint in his eyes. "Or else I will have to hex your fingers of, so that they would keep from fiddling with other peoples' things."

"How is this 'other peoples' things'?" Sirius wondered innocently. "We're partners, remember?" he said with a playful grin. "This is too advanced for me, though. But you should know for sure if you've done right or not."

"There's just so many details to keep in mind; so many small errors that one could make without noticing it", Remus explained with slight worry. "Just because it looks right, we have no guarantee that it works correctly."

"But it's supposed to smell different to other people, right?" Sirius questioned, surprisingly hinting that possibly he hadn't slept during Slughorn's entire lecture.

Remus nodded to confirm it. "Everyone smells different scents, depending on what's attractive to them", he informed.

"And...?" Sirius continued on his trail of thought. "What does it smell to you?"

Remus turned a merely visible tone redder and avoided the other bloke's gaze as he murmured something barely audible in response.

"What was that?" the black-haired boy asked, and raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Nothing", he repeated, louder this time. "I smell nothing other than what I smelled before we started brewing this thing", he informed somewhat shyly. "Apart from a mild, chocolaty gust, possibly."

"You're kidding me, right?" Black asked, staring incredulously at his friend. "That's just weird, Moons."

Remus gulped. Sirius must've understood what this would mean. He was weird, and he knew it. But now, Sirius agreed with him. Merlin, he had things to explain.

"Um... I..." he started, hesitantly, but he was interrupted.

"Chocolate is the only thing you love?" Black wondered with some sort of amazement in his voice.

Remus just stared at his friend. Was he ironic, or did he actually not understand a thing? Could he be lucky enough for this to be a false alarm?

"What do you smell?" he eventually asked, turning the discussion topic away from him.

Sirius smiled teasingly as he shook his head. "I think it will be safest, concerning your mental health, if I kept most of those things to myself, dear Moony", he explained. "I do smell chocolate as well, though."

"Great", Remus said with sarcasm. "So we won't know if we've actually managed a proper Amortentia brew, until the professor comes along at the end of the lesson – when it'll be too late for changes."

His potions partner shrugged indifferently. "I could try it out, and we'd see", he suggested, and a goblet appeared at their table with a flicker of Sirius' wand. The werewolf hurriedly grasped his hand, though, to stop him from this madness.

"You're plain stupid, you lunatic", he barked, successfully suppressing a smile.

The animagus raised an eyebrow, playing slow and innocent. "What?" he said. "I'll just fall madly in love with someone for a while; it'll wear off eventually, won't it?"

"Oh sure – if it works, that is!" Lupin snorted. "And then if it does, it's bound to trigger severe heartbreak for anyone involved."

"Really, now?" Sirius said, acting serious, though not in a very convincing way. "Am I really _that_ irresistible and coveted?" he said in the same, teasing manner.

"Cocky bastard", the lycanthrope murmured as he rolled his eyes, though he still couldn't help but smile. "You're always behaving so... so Sirius-ish!" he stated, not really managing to explain himself further.

"Why, of course I am", the dog agreed. "How else would I behave? Should I be more Remy-like?" he wondered curiously.

"Well, doing your homework every once in a while would probably do you good", Remus commented.

Sirius pretended to consider this for a while. "Hum... nah, I know a brunette I'd much rather do", he proclaimed, grinning mischievously.

Remus obviously didn't get the picture, or he just didn't like what he was hearing, as he shook his head, eyebrows furrowed in exasperation.

"I really don't want to hear about the perverted plans your mind holds", he said with a sigh, and avoided eye contact.

Sirius stiffened a little. Ouch. What was that supposed to mean? He suddenly felt even more anxious than usual, for some reason, and he looked around his surrounding in search of a distraction of some kind.

His eyes locked at the table next to them, where Peter and James sat staring worriedly down at their cauldron, which seemed to hold some unidentifiable grease – bubbling slowly as if it contained life.

Black laughed to himself. That thing would make a perfect match with Snivellus' hair, he thought. That was when a splendid idea hit him. He took the goblet he had conjured, whistled to attract Peter' attention, and threw it over to him as discreetly as possible.

"Fill it up", he mimed, so that neither Slughorn nor Remus would notice anything; the latter was too busy pouring some of the fluid in their own cauldron into a cup to watch what Sirius was up to, but – because of his furry little problem – he would surely hear it if the mischievous Marauder was to whisper anything.

Peter actually seemed to understand what his friend wanted him to do, because he filled the goblet with the grease, carefully avoiding touching it with his bare skin, while the thick fluid itself seemed to bubble in protest.

Sirius smiled naughtily as he flickered his wand to levitate the goblet and make it float straight back towards his and Remus' table while the Potions Master had his eyes elsewhere. Though this time the werewolf – no longer distracted by the potion as he'd completed his mission – discovered what the other boy was up to, and he cried out a surprised warning that made the dog lose his concentration and drop the goblet right down into their very own brew.

"Oops", was all the black-haired teen could say as he looked down into the cauldron at their table, whose content no longer held a perfect mother-of-pearl sheen, but had instead taken on a gray-and-white, blurry mixture of colours, and simmered more and more violently as the seconds ticked away.

"Way to go, Padfoot", Remus snarled as he too took a good look at the now spoiled and scentless potion.

Then, without warning, the brew blew up right in the two Marauders' faces. But they weren't covered in goo; instead the potion floated up into the air around them, almost with the consistency of some kind of heavy fog, spreading and circling in between and around the two blokes. Their eyes were both empty for an instance as they locked with each other, but all of a sudden as the gryffindors sat completely still, mouths agape, they both closed their eyes and began panting simultaneously.

"What in the name of Merlin did just happen?!" Horace Slughorn exclaimed, now paying full attention to the two boys, as did all the other students. "I suppose you had absolutely nothing to do with this, Mr Black?" he said suspiciously.

One of the sixteen-year-olds opened his mouth. "It was an accident, professor Slughorn; no need to sound so accusing", he said defensively, staring his teacher down as the boys had both turned their heads towards the Slytherin Head of House.

But before the old man got around answering, the other Marauder started.

"Your voice sounds kind of like..." he began, but as they both turned to face each other, they were speechless and ran out of breath.

"I'm not accusing anyone, and I wasn't talking to you, Mr Lupin", Slughorn explained. "Though if you happen to know what happened, of course you are more than welcome to share it with us."

The black-haired boy slowly turned to face his teacher again.  
"H-he's not Mr Lupin, professor", he stuttered. "I am."

Both of the boys gulped as everyone stared at them, and they stared worriedly at each other as well.

"That's impossible", the professor said doubtfully. "No potion can cause two people to change bodies with one and another."

"Professor, all possible side effects or outputs of different, unknown potion combinations can't possibly be documented", Sirius Black's body argued. "Seeing as there are so many elements in brewing the Amortentia correctly, I'd say there would be a various combination of errors you could do, that knocks the true effect of the potion out, is there not?" he continued.

"Well, yes", the Potions Master agreed, "but..."

"And if you mix the Amortentia potion with another brew – an incomplete, wrongly prepared brew with unknown side effects of its own – like Sirius just now did, you have to admit that you couldn't possibly predict the outcome, could you?" Remus Lupin's mind debated. "I mean, you're an educated, skilful potions expert, dealing with powerful, perfect potions continuously, right? Why would you bother to experiment and research about the effects of various potion mistakes, when you know very well how to avoid making them? This is obviously not your area of expertise."

"Holy guacamole!" the professor exclaimed. "You _are_ Remus Lupin!" he said, fully convinced. "Sweet mother of Merlin, this can't be good. I need a sample of each one of the brews that were mixed together."

"Well, the brew Sirius stole was mixed with our potion", Sirius' own body explained, much to Sirius' mind's dislike. "But I managed to save some of our Amortentia when I poured it into another cup", he stated, and handed the cup in question to the professor to have a look and sniff at.

"Hey", Remus' mouth protested. "You said you weren't quite sure if it _was_ Amortentia", he commented.

"Yes, but the more I thought and smelled of it, the surer I got", Remus explained with the other Marauder's voice.

"Really, now?" the other wizard asked. "So you did smell something other than chocolate?"

Remus ignored the question and turned to face the professor again.

"Were did Black get the other potion from?" Slughorn asked, feeling extremely odd speaking of Black in third person while he was talking to the body of said student.

"He took some from Peter and James, if I'm not mistaken", Remus said, deciding that honesty in this case came before protecting a fellow Marauder – and he was sure that Sirius didn't mind, as he ought to want his own body back anyway.

"Potter, Pettigrew", the teacher called out, turning his attention towards said boys. "May I have a sample of your brew, if you please?"

"Um... we'd be happy to give it to you professor", James said as he'd looked to get his hands on their potion again. "... But it seems to be missing", the raven-haired bloke continued. "In fact, our entire cauldron is missing."

"Missing?" the teacher repeated, as if coming across a new word. "How could it be missing?"

A frustrated, mad growl directed everyone's attention towards another student; a student whose black hair was now greasier than usual, an empty cauldron turned upside-down right above his head.

"Black!" Snape and Slughorn called out simultaneously.

No one had ever heard Remus Lupin laugh that hard in his life. The sound of the lycanthropes laughter was usually soft and warm; now it echoed through the entire classroom as if someone had fired off a pinwheel. Remus himself stared at his friend through Sirius' own, gray eyes, and shook his head while struggling not to smile.

"Ten points from gryffindor! Five because you caused a potion to explode in reckless fiddling, and another five because of the way you behave towards a fellow student", the Potions Master cried. Then, reluctantly, as he looked at the cup he still held in his hands, he added: "Though you're lucky, Mr Black; you and your partner have earned ten points in brewing a perfect Amortentia potion."

Lupin's lips were widened into a content smile as Sirius met his own eyes and looked beyond them at the other bloke.

"Lucky indeed", Remus' voice murmured, as Slughorn dismissed them all while trying to scoop up some of the greasy potion at Snape's feet.

* * *

"I have no idea what you are smiling about, Sirius; this is a disaster!" Remus said, looking at his black, somewhat wavy hair in the mirror in the boys' room.

Slughorn had stated that it seemed like the two had somehow exchanged _souls_, thereby referring to the unpredicted accident as the 'Dementor Effect'.

The Amortentia potion presented the feign illusion of a soul mate to the one who consumed it, thereby awaking an incredibly deep obsession in the victim; an infatuation one could only break free from by consuming the antidote or bide one's time.

But the other, unfinished brew seemed to increase its effect with a catch; one bloke seemed to have absorbed the other's soul into him, and vice versa. The cause of this reaction was still unknown and obviously incurable until they had figured it out.

"This is so much fun!" the other bloke protested, practically jumping up and down behind him. "The news haven't reached all of the students yet – there are even some teachers who don't know about it", he beamed happily. "I'm a prefect now; I can threaten young slytherins to deduct points if they don't get out of the 'prohibited corridor'; I can pull loads of pranks without ever getting caught or even suspected; I can bathe in the Prefects' Bathroom!"

Remus arched one of Sirius' eyebrows at the last thing he'd said. "You've done that?" he wondered hesitantly.

"No, but I _can_!" Sirius clarified, beaming with excitement.

Remus relaxed again and rolled his – well, Sirius' – eyes. "The thing is, Padfoot; once the news have spread to its fullest, you're gonna get into so much trouble."

"Who cares?" the other bloke said, still smiling. "I'll just have to enjoy my privileges while I have them."

Remus rolled his eyes again, though he referred from commenting. No one could reach Sirius' common sense in cases like these, so the experienced lycanthrope gave up without much of a fight.

* * *

The witches of the gryffindor house were behaving _abnormally_ weird, even for them. They had basically sorted out into two groups; those who were sworn Black-adherents – or, to be more specific, stayed swirling around Sirius Black's body because of his good-looks – making Remus squirm uncomfortably; and those who gathered around Remus' body because they knew it now hosted the deadly charming gryffindor popularity, and held a charming personality worth of worshipping – which made Remus squirm some more, and frown as girls giggled around his friend.

Sirius had always been one to chat up all the pretty girls he laid his eyes on, and it couldn't be more obvious that these young ladies were all hoping for a round with him. Remus was almost sickened, though he made quite a good job hiding it.

"You know, I won't hesitate to hex your sorry ass to the moon if you take things further than the flirting while in my body", Remus murmured with an annoyed twitch in his voice as well as his forehead.

Sirius met the other bloke's eyes as they sat in the common room, trying in vain for some privacy with girls all around the place. Peter flushed red just by being next to them in this swarm of females, but James weren't around to comment on everything as he was far too busy trying to chat up the only gryffindor girl that made a group by herself in not caring particularly about neither one of the two blokes.

"Worried that I'll put your lips or other of your private parts into unfamiliar usage with unfamiliar witches?" Sirius teased with raised eyebrows and a crooked smile that made the closest girls giggle some more.

This bothered the other Marauder some more in turn, but Remus avoided the other bloke's eyes – his own eyes, in fact – and didn't say anything. This efficiently wiped the smile out of Remus Lupin's face, and was replaced by slight concern.

"Hey", Sirius said, finally starting to get used to using Remus' voice. "You know I will do no such thing, don't you?" he said, wishing for the other gryffindor to raise his head and meet his eyes. As if by command, Remus did just that. "You know I'm only joking around, right? I mean, this is your body, and I can't possibly do something that affects it – you – badly. I won't drink; I won't make out with anyone; I won't... do other stupid things", he said solemnly. "It's a promise. Besides, I haven't been involved with anyone for several weeks..." he began to mutter, seemingly to himself.

These words touched Remus deeper than he'd ever willingly show.

"Yeah, well..." he said, thinking about what he ought to reply. "If you won't drink, you'll kill my body off, and I won't appreciate it all too much", he said with a small smile.

Sirius laughed that kind of a soft laugh that was common to escape Remus' vocal cords.

"You get what I mean, silly", he chuckled. "I won't do something stupid."

"Of course you will", Remus thought wisely. "But at least you might consider things before acting them out."

"Don't I always?" Black asked, smiling innocently.

"Oh shut it, you're not being very reassuring", the werewolf bit, though smiling as well, like he always tended to do when another Marauder – especially Sirius – did. How could he not? He was just too dazzled with his friend to avoid it; a bad thing, for sure, but it was the truth, and there was absolutely nothing the lycan could do to change it.

* * *

It was merely seven o'clock that Saturday when Sirius – in Remus' body, to be clear – withdrew his curtains and rose from his bed hesitantly, almost staggering. He looked around and noticed that Remus' curtains were still closed around the bloke's bed, and didn't really know what to think of it.

Unhurriedly he walked towards the bathroom, and he would've literally bumped into James if he hadn't moved so slowly.

Both boys looked at each other in surprise, before James was finally the one to utter words.

"What in the name of Merlin are you doing up this early, Padfoot?" he wondered, still amused when referring to the brown-haired, hazel-eyed bloke as Padfoot.

"Says Mr Sleep-until-noon", the other wizard said pointedly.

"I'll have you know I'm going to surprise Lily today, and I need to finish my preparations well in time", James explained proudly. "What's your excuse?" he wondered, immediately making his friend more uncomfortable.

"Um..." he hesitated, but he knew that once he'd shown signs of wanting to avoid something, the spectacled boy would always be the one to stubbornly drag it out into the open. "This is going to be awkward, but... I need to take a shower", Sirius confessed.

James burst out laughing. Extremely hard.

"Glad to amuse you", Black said through gritted teeth, "but this isn't funny!"

"Yes it is!" the other bloke disagreed between his laughing fits.

"It's not; it's horrible, I don't know what to do!" Sirius complained in distress.

"It's easy", the raven-haired teen explained once somewhat calmer; "you just take of your clothes, and..."

"But I can't!" Black interrupted.

"Sure you can", James thought. "I'm sure lots of teenage witches around here are to agree with me on that one."

"Shut it, you twat!" the other bloke exclaimed, clearly not in the mood for jokes. "You don't get it: this isn't my body, I can't just do whatever the hell with it! This here", he said and gestured across the body inside which he was trapped, "is _Remus'_! It's an entirely different deal."

"How come you make such a fuss of it?" James wondered, honestly surprised about his friends' outburst.

"Because this is Remus we're talking about, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" he emphasised. "I don't want to intrude on his personal space!"

"Funny thing, 'cause you don't particularly seem to mind when being in your own body and you practically assault him as you hover over him all the time", Potter said pointedly.

"This is different!" Black burst. "At other times, he can always just push me away if he feels like I cross a line."

"Not that he ever does..."

"But he is able to!" Sirius growled. "Now, he's not in control, and I don't know where to draw my lines; I don't want to make him feel..."

He trailed of as he was at a loss of words. James seemed to sense the true desperation in his friend's words, and it puzzled him, but also made him aware and careful not to pull any more bad jokes. He wasn't at a total lack of tact, after all.

"Isn't there a spell I could use?" Sirius asked reluctantly after a good couple of hours of silence. "So that I could... you know, skip the strip...?"

James couldn't keep from laughing at this, though he did try to be helpful at the very least.

"Well, you could make your clothes water-proof, but I guess that wouldn't quite do the trick with washing yourself off..." James started, thinking hard. "I'm sorry Pads, but all I can think of for you to do is to ask Moony."

The bloke he was talking to stared wryly at him.

"Really, Prongs..."

James shrugged, his mind darting back towards Lily, ignoring the other bloke's comment of how he was no good at any spells. "I'm off for breakfast. Good luck with solving those... problems of yours." He couldn't help but smile in a somewhat mocking manner.

Sirius kept the swearing to himself as he sighed and went to dig in Remus' trunk. Of course that was when the boy whose body he now possessed decided to wake up.

"Sirius...?" he murmured questioningly as the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was his own figure sitting right beside his bed practically turning his trunk upside-down. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Nothing, Moonshine", the other bloke hastily replied. "Just looking for your book of advanced charms."

"And what on earth would you want to do with it?" Remus asked in Sirius' husky morning voice.

"Why, read it of course", he replied, as if it was a silly question... which it would've been, hadn't it been asked to Sirius Black.

Remus arched both eyebrows and climbed out of bed slowly, to join the other bloke at the floor.

"Are you sick or something?" he asked with enough concern in his voice for Sirius to just smile at him and shake his head reassuringly. "What kind of spell are you looking for, then?" Remus continued on to question.

"I, uh... Long story", Sirius murmured, but as the other boy tilted his head to the side and used _his_ famous puppy-dog-eyes probably without intending to do so, he just couldn't stop himself from explaining. "Well, thing is, I don't want to wander about with dirty hair like Snivellus..."

Remus frowned. Sometimes Padfoot could be very unpredictable and random.

"No? Well, that's why the muggles invented shampoo", he explained patiently.

"Yeah, but... See, I don't want you to... well..." Sirius started to ramble, but he stiffened as his gaze locked in his own black hair. "Wait a second", he said suspiciously, then leaning forward and sniffing his own hair, making Remus blush slightly.

"Padfoot...?" he asked, confused and overwhelmed to his limit – and way over the limit they went as Sirius bent down dipping his nose straight over his chest.

"You've taken a shower!" he then stated, almost accusingly.

"I have", he nodded, confessing to this obviously major sin he'd committed. "Your point being...?"

Sirius couldn't find any words to explain things properly, so he just looked through hazel eyes at the other boy pointedly, hoping for the cleverer of them to get the message.

"_Oh_", the boy in question eventually said, comprehension dawning on his face quickly.

"Yeah", Sirius nodded confirmatory, certain that the other Marauder had gotten the picture. "Um… did you – How did you…?"

"Er, I didn't really… think about it, like – I mean, I…" Remus was now just about as awkward as Sirius was about this, cursing himself for his slow mind that made him think this was somehow natural, while there was obviously nothing natural about their situation. "Is… is it weird to you…?" Oh Merlin, what was he _thinking_? _Of course_ it was strange to Sirius; this thing was bloody strange to every normal bloke in the world!

"No, no, I… I understand – I mean… I was just thinking how you'd be… uh, _uncomfortable_ with… you know, with me seeing your – your _scars_!"

Sirius rapidly stumbled through the sentence, practically screaming once he got to the end of it. Once finishing, he needed to catch his breath for a moment, before hurriedly adding a rambling explanation.

"Yeah, 'cause you always use to be kinda awkward and ashamed of your scars, needing to cover them up from everyone even though you know we know", he speeded, nodding during his entire speech as if this made it make more sense. He then gulped, something that was mimicked by the bloke opposite him.

"Yeah, right…" was all Remus could say, as he nodded and met his eyes hesitantly and bit his lip. "Right. It's… fine."

"You sure?" Sirius asked, to be on the safe side. "You know, I could probably close my eyes or something…" he suggested half-heartedly.

"Do what you want", Remus replied, only wishing to be done with this and get to breakfast soon enough, beginning to rise when Sirius clasped a hand around his wrist to stop him.

"What do you want?" the normally black-haired wizard asked, hinting towards so many other things in Remus' ears.

Remus couldn't meet the open, somewhat concerning and slightly curious, expectant gaze of his friend for more than a few seconds. It didn't matter that the eyes he looked upon were a warm hazel tone; it was Sirius' absorbing gaze he was meeting, which had him somewhat dizzy and fogged his mind. Remus had to look away quickly before completely loosing the hold of his instincts, not wanting to risk jumping the other bloke if he didn't. Because really, Moony didn't possess an unlimited amount of patience after all.

"Do what you want", he repeated, and quickly got to his feet to start to dress and get out of there.

* * *

"This is so bizarre; like I'm looking at myself over there", Sirius muttered, gazing at the black dog that gladly greeted Lily Evans under the beech tree at the school grounds. "Look at them, cuddling around like crazy."

"Jealous, much?" James asked mockingly, receiving nothing but a snarl in response while he expected to get a devastating reply or a punch in his face at the very least.

This lack of devious wittiness from none less than the great Sirius Black – occupying the body of one Remus Lupin of course, but still – made the spectacled gryffindor turn his head to get a good look at his friend, who actually did seem somewhat bitter, staring at the odd couple with distaste.

"You _are_!" James gasped, staring at his friend as if he was a stranger he hadn't seen before in his life. "You _actually_ are, aren't you?"

"Suck it up, you ponce", Sirius hissed in a voice unfamiliar coming from Remus' mouth – though he did seem to worry about his 'brother's' reaction, no matter how unwilling he was to show it.

"You've never said anything", James commented, and his friend let out a breath in relief as the seeker didn't sound disapproving or anything, mostly curious actually.

He shrugged, smiling ever so slightly without an apparent reason.

"What was I supposed to say?" he wondered, gentle in his voice though uneasy as he watched Evans pet the dog some more.

"Dunno, couldn't you have given me some kind of heads-up?" the other teen asked, not really expecting a positive response. "Like, 'by the way, bro, I kinda like Moony, so make sure not to get in between when I'm striving for his attention'? This explains quite a lot, you know."

Sirius didn't say anything, but let the other bloke continue if he'd like to.

"For how long have you fancied him?" he eventually asked, and was given another shrug.

"A couple of months, I think", he said indifferently.

"_Months_?" James' eyes popped open into twice their original size. "How come you haven't done anything? The Sirius Black I know wouldn't just wait around for the grass to grow."

"Well then, please tell me, what else can I possibly do?" Sirius grimaced.

"I don't know, get some action; do what you usually do", James advised him.

"Heh, but you see, the thing is that this is _Remus_ we're talking about", Sirius explained, stressing every syllable in the last clause. "He's much more than just some random girl I might snog for the fun of it. He's _important_. He's my friend, and I care about him."

James blinked, staring at the other gryffindor as if he'd just argued in favour of staying pure until marriage.

"Jeez, didn't know you were all serious about this all", he stated, hurriedly adding: "No pun intended."

Sirius just shook his head and sighed, laughing a little without being amused. "You're not the only one who were clueless, Prongs", he informed.

"Aren't you going to say something to him?" Potter wondered with a frown.

"Say what?" Black snorted. "'Hey Moons, I love you, d'you wanna make out'?" He rolled his eyes.

"Well, I suppose there are smoother ways of putting it", James said thoughtfully. "You have to say _something_, you know. You can't just strut about pretending that everything's perfectly normal. Besides, don't you reckon it'd be easier to tell him now? It'd be like talking to your reflection, seeing as you're in each others bodies…" At this point, the stag trailed off with a small gasp, thinking about the last thing he'd said. "Oh my. You're in his body, Sirius", he then stated, as if the other boy had somehow overlooked this fact up until now.

"I've noticed", Sirius stated concisely.

The messy-haired wizard arched an eyebrow. "And…?" he asked while giving the other bloke a meaning glance.

"Prongs, you perv!" Sirius yelped. "You obviously don't understand anything, do you? This is why I was all jittery about taking a shower and everything, don't you see? How would you've liked it if you were to change bodies with Evans, if you really do love her the way you claim to do?"

James didn't say anything, for once in his life. And that was probably the most expressive silence they had ever experienced. Now, that said something.

"I get your point", James finally said while nodding his head slowly. "I still think you should tell him, though. He might like you the same way."

"And he might not", Sirius retorted, feeling utterly hopeless and in need for a good advice – Merlin, it would have been so much easier if sensible Moony could be the one to hear him out. … But we wouldn't want that in this situation, now, would we?

"So you could be rejected. That's the worst thing that could happen, and really, how bad is it in comparison?" the stag asked, trying to go for logic reasoning.

"Not really", Sirius pointed out. "He could be engrossed and repulsed with me."

"Not likely", James thought. "I'm not, and Remus is supposed to be the most open-minded of all of us, for apparent reasons."

"Yeah but, even if he wasn't, there's still the chance that he doesn't like me in that way at all", Black debated. "And if that's the case, imagine a situation where I'd tell Moony how I felt. How do you think he'd react?"

"Hm…" James thought this over for a while. "Hard to say. Though he'd definitely not tell you off harshly, that's for sure", he was willing to bet. Though this didn't seem to be what the other bloke feared, so he continued on his train of thought. "He might tell you off _tactfully_…"

"… And then we'd be terribly awkward for the rest of our lives, and I'd never be able to be close to him because he'd believe me to think about him in _that_ way whenever we touched, and he'd be _right_, and things would never settle, and our friendship would be torn forever; I'd never get this back, this that we have now."

"You're being over-dramatic", James said, but he could see reason in the other bloke's fears. "On the other hand, there's a chance that he won't tell you off at all", he reminded them both.

"Oh yeah, great, then he'd be dating me out of politeness, or because he doesn't want to hurt my feelings, and I guess we could both see how that would work out", Sirius complained.

"Well, I was referring to the possibility that he might feel the same way about you – but sure, if you want to bring yourself further down, I guess you could continue being an unrealistic pessimist", Potter said while rolling his eyes.

The blokes, having reached a stalemate, tried to stare each other down for a couple of moments, though when neither one of them would give up, Sirius sighed.

"I don't know, James", he said, calmer this time, as if he'd already given up on everything. "Every time I consider telling him, I think about the risks and end up weaving things in too cryptically for him to get the message."

"So don't think about the risks", the bloke he was talking to simply said. "Think about the possibilities. They're actually not as impossible as you think them to be."

Black raised an eyebrow sceptically. "No?"

"No, because coming to think of it, he actually does keep awfully close to you pretty much all the time, even watching you in class at times", James said while recalling several events that had all taken place just about the previous week. "And he mirrors your movements rather often, actually." James looked as if realization had hit with the power of a fist in his face. Realization was sure to have to pay for that later. "This all makes so much sense when looking at it this way. Like I'm finally puzzling the pieces together!" he proclaimed, fascinated.

"Good for you, Prongs, but really", the no-longer-an-animagus-because-he-had-been-deprived-of-his-own-body said without all that much of conviction himself; "I won't say anything straight forward to Moony until I'm faced with the perfect moment for it, the precious wolf makes a move on me, or 'til I see some signs myself, indicating what you now so stubbornly claim to be true", he stated.

"But Pads…"

James tried to protest, fighting to force some sense into his friend's thick skull, but the thick-headed lad in question had aimed to end the conversation as he'd grown bored, and turned his head away from him.

Now, this simple move didn't usually shut James Potter up once he was into something, but the effects of Sirius' averted attention showed clearly in his face; Sirius furrowed, and he narrowed his (Remus') eyes at what he saw back at the beech tree.

"Hey, Prongs?" he said through gritted teeth and with the facial expression of a mad-man. "Seems like Evans has chosen to take things a step _beyond_ cuddling."

James immediately dropped everything that was one his mind and turned to stare at the redhead of his desire, who were delivering sweet butterfly kisses to the black animal she had long since embraced; the canine softly wagging his tail during this process. And in an instance, the facial expressions of the two gryffindor mates turned to be identical.

Sirius hissed. "You take the witch, I take the dog", he commanded determinately, and off they went.

* * *

Remus Lupin entered the dormitory were Sirius waited looking positively down.

"What's up, Moons?" Sirius asked, half-laying at his bed though scooting over to make room for the other bloke.

Remus sighed as he sat down next to him. "I spoke to professor Slughorn about our problem", he explained. "He said he thought to have understood how the reaction happened, and how exactly the potions had been brewed."

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Black asked; somewhat confounded by the worried look Remus wore.

"Yes, but he still hasn't managed a potion to create the opposite effect", the boy in question informed him. "At least not one that doesn't kill us."

"But still: it's progress", Black stated, smiling optimistically. "It's good."

"This is not good, Sirius", the other Marauder protested. "This is terrible; don't you get it?" Remus shouted with the other bloke's deep voice. "If they don't fix us up within three days, you will be trapped in my body at full moon!"

Remus was truly wound up, though it made him even more edgy to see that his friend didn't seem half as anxious as he was – instead Sirius didn't seem to take this doom all too harsh; he seemed surprisingly calm, serene even, as if he was just as indifferent to his cruel fate as he was to the weather.

"What's the matter with you?" Remus burst almost angrily. "This is horrific! Why don't you seem to even mind? Do you even realize what it's like, suffering the..."

"Moony, calm down, okay?" Sirius said, taking his own face in between his hands to soothe him, making the other bloke freeze in his movements and stay absolutely still. "I'm fine. Haven't I already told you a couple of times that I'd take the pain for you if I could?" he said unusually softly.

Remus' pulse began working faster, trembling an unstable rhythm as he sucked in a breath and a knot seemed to tie itself somewhere inside his – Sirius' – stomach.

"You're being foolish, Sirius", he said in a much lower voice.

"Well, we all do what we do best", Sirius replied, much too softly to bring the joke forward the way he usually did.

Remus didn't have a response to that, and after a while, as Sirius still wouldn't let go of his face, the silence became more evident.

"Sirius..." Remus said hesitantly, not quite willing to back away though not sure that it'd go very well if he didn't.

Desire rushed through him, because even if it was extremely weird being so close to his own face, his entire being felt Sirius' presence, and his body – well, not technically, but still – reacted thereafter. He was dying to get even closer to the other bloke, but that wouldn't do. But the thing was that Remus didn't know if he'd be able to restrain himself if he didn't have some distance put between them anytime soon.

Just as he'd pull himself together and pull away, the other gryffindor opened his mouth ever so slightly.

Here it came. Sirius was being in his experimental mood, still clinging to the things James had told him about the way Moony acted around him. Though he wasn't overly confident and stupid; he didn't corner himself and set the trap; no, he would be able to turn the opposite way just by saying he was kidding – and be _convincing_ while doing so – and thereby leave next to no memories of this whole thing in Remus' mind.

"You know, I've always wondered what it'd be like kissing myself", he said in a whisper, because really, this close together it only felt strange speaking out aloud.

Remus gasped and opened his eyes wide, not believing what he heard, but cherishing it all the same. He jut met his friend and secret love's eyes, hardly daring to breathe while doing so. Was this when he'd wake up and realize that, really: a romantic novel and a cup of hot chocolate mixed with stress and fatigue, at three o'clock by the fire in the common room did not make a great combination?

Their lips slowly grew closer as Sirius noticed that Remus still didn't move, and was starting to feel hopeful about it. Black tilted his head slightly to the side, still leaning in, so that when their lips met it would be without knocking their heads together painfully. As the pureblood's breath touched the other gryffindor's lips, Sirius was still prepared for him to move away, though – he almost lay in momentum, looking out for any sign that this might happen.

But it simply didn't. Remus didn't move an inch. And when Sirius actually met the lycanthrope's lips with his own, softly at first, albeit soon pressing down instinctively and eagerly, Remus no longer could have stopped it even if he'd wanted to.

Lucky he didn't.

Remus gasped once more at the sensation of feeling the boy of his dreams against him – not quite literally, but still somehow he _felt_ him and registered his every movement – and his eyes fluttered shut as he was to explore this feeling with his other senses, relishing the moment and allowing himself to– _oh God_, he felt the other bloke's tongue against his lips!

He opened his mouth to let the other wizard inside, and their tongues met lightly at first, then a bit less tentative as Sirius stroked Remus' eagerly and explored the other bloke's mouth with greatest delight. To this, Remus whimpered softly, and they were both quite amazed with the feelings overwhelming them; pulses racing over the three-digit line within seconds.

As they eventually slid about half an inch apart, they both opened their eyes wide and looked at each other with fascination.

"That was..." Sirius began to whisper, but he couldn't find the words.

"... Kind of weird", Remus filled in, a slight smile breaking out as he uttered the words, indicating that 'weird' most certainly did not mean 'unpleasant'.

"Yes, but rather thrilling as well, don't you think?" he asked with an earnest smile.

"I daresay it was", Lupin agreed with the faintest blush on his cheeks and the softest smile on his lips. "I wouldn't mind trying that out again, or what do you say?"

"I'd say that's a splendid proposition", the other boy said before entwining one of his hands in his own hair to be able to pull the other bloke closer once more.

Their lips and tongues met again, this time gladly welcoming each other, and Remus let out a soft moan as the other bloke's tongue seemed to throw a happy reunion-party inside his mouth.

Though as Sirius' vacant hand slid around the waist of the body close to him, the same thoughts seemed to be occurring them both as they froze, re-opening the eyes they must've closed somewhere during the process.

Sirius slowly pulled his mouth away from the other's, though not making any other move; they were both too startled with this extremely peculiar sensation to be able to move any further, meeting each others eyes and quietly agreeing on how very weird this actually was.

"I'm touching my own ass", Sirius blurted out after a few seconds of silence. "I was about to reach a hand inside my own shirt just now", he went on.

Remus shivered at his confession, for a reason entirely different to discomfort. Yet he nodded, understandingly.

"Maybe we should wait with this all until the professors find a way to cure us", he suggested, being the sensible student that he was.

Sirius nodded agreeing, yet somehow neither of the boys managed to withdraw the desire in their eyes as they looked at each other.

Sirius sighed in frustration, needing to jump Slughorn's throat and threaten him until he got the damn antidote finished just to be able to suppress the urge of jumping _Remus_ right now.

The Potions Master damn well ought to hurry up, because really, Padfoot didn't possess an unlimited amount of patience after all.

* * *

Review, pretty please! :)


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